The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 19, 1933, Page 4

Poblished by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc 1sth St., New York City, N. ¥, Telephone ALgonquin 4~ Agéress and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 1 , daily except Sunday, at 58 E. 58. Cable “DATWORK.” h St, New York, N. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, 36; six months, $3.50; 3 months, $2; 1 month, %e excepting Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign and i Canada: One year, $9; 6 months, $5; 3 months, $5 Faith and Hope or-- Organized Struggle (AITH and hope in the charity of the incoming Roosevelt administration—but no organization and mass struggle to force the government to support the 16,000,000 unem- ployed and their dependents by tax levies on the billionaire fortunes and huge incomes of the capitalists—this is the line made still clearer by William Green and his fellow bureaucrats in their I senate committees dealing with Black bill) and relief 1 ‘ollette-Costigan bill sue of the Washi ekly news sheet ican Federation of Labor featv Bill. Ss evi Measure is considered piece of der 1 of the utmost valu in creatir u improvement of the conditions of the Working c of employers, gover! mt and bor”’—as represented by A. F. of L. and Railway Brotherhood leade BY HE A. F. of L. news sheet for Jan. 14 is distinguished by three things: ort 1. The reports of the mass of evidence of Cr tution, hunger, disease and th and farmer: en. bj Ur zations, relief director: ittees cc 2. The br tc hour week proposals as thi st main method of so! ¢ mass unemployment. la: But nowhere it m stress that there fy shall be no r nimum wage law— the amendment proposed e of the A. F. ef L.. 1 by the T League co The A. F. of for has no less than five headlines pushing 1 the 30-hour week. These headlines s Favor Thir : Week”: “California Approves 30- Hou: Wei San Francisco Adopts Thirty-Hour W Plan”; “Loco- te motive Er 30-Hour We ete. etc. A studied attempt is made i ppression that it won't be long re now before unemployment disappea 3. The third point distinguishin eA, F. of Bp Comm e Trade on Unity vi of L. Committee for Unex h 'Hushing Scourg YI f acks on Organized Labor”, ou says a two-column headline, “Amer ration of Labor lative 4 Representative Tells Senate Commit t Weinstock and Dunne Seek t the Destruction of the Labor Move and Advocate the Overthrow of = the Government by Force—Weinstock’s Unemploym ance Com- 4 ittee Is Not Connected With the Federation”, the > continues. A S has be ated a number of times by the Daily : only daily pa) 1 the country to expose the real pury f the r So) Biack bill and the accompanying demagogy of A. F. of L. officialdom) the s proposed 30-howr week bill is simp! 1 legal extension of the vicious 73 share-the-work scheme. It cannot be emphasized too often, in view of a the wide-spread character of the A. F. of L. publicity campaign—and A this is especially true for members of A. F. of L. unions—that the whole 4 question of the shorter work-day and work-week, as raised by the bureau- ¢rats during and since the Cincinnati convention, is a new phase of the general drive against the living standards of the American working class. 1 The demand for une id immediate cash relie’ 1 for all unemploye: s expenses of the govern- ment and the employers, t mass power behind it. Especially does it have the support of thousands of members of affiliated unions of the A. F. of L. and the Railway Brotherhoods. ‘Part-time work, at an average of less than 30 hours per week, is al- yeady almost universal in the United States. Walter C. gle, head of we ..the Standard Oil Company of New Je and chief sponsor of the share-the-work scheme of spreading starvation, admits that 67 per cent of all industry is using some form of part-time work. The Black bill proposals would not put any considerable number of workers into eim- ployment, but where it did it would institute still further wage cuts. Our comrades in the A. F. of L. unions and Rail Brotherhoods, in the Unemployed Councils and other working class org: ions must carry forward the exposure of the Black bill and of the tre s tactics of \ the bureaucrats; the stru ‘orts to choke the mass move- ment for compulsory federa' ment insurance for all workers Ee is in itself a mighty wea the new deliberate attempts of BY agents of capitalism in workingclass organizations to lift it out of the 5 erisis at the cost or still mort drastic reduction of living standards of % the American masses "PHE Communist Pa distortions of the pi the mouthpieces of th: high point—are an indicatior slanders communist Pa and by it y—now reaching a new not of the strength of the bureaucrats, but of their weakness. They are on the defensive before the working elass. The drive of exposure and the struggle to break their vicious in- fluence should therefore be carried on with greater vigor on all fronts. Trotsky’s Slander Service HERE are no limits to the depths reached by Trotsky and his followers, by the Socialist Party leaders and their press, by others masquerading under such guises as “impartial” historical studies, (the method adopted by-Edmund Wilson in the New Republic) in the fight against the Soviet Union, the Communist Party and its Bolshevik leadership. [; One must go back to the period of the Borgias to find a comparison for Trotsky’s latest slander of Stalin, namely, that he is responsible for tHe suicide of Trotsky’s thirty-one year old daughter in Berlin, Trotsky admits that he hates Stalin, that he opposes the building of Socialism in the Soviet Union is a fact too well known to require proof here. Trotsky fights the Soviet Union and the Communist International with every weapon the can find ready to his hand. His recent trip to Denmark was for the purpose of organizing his counter-revolutionary forces. HE Soviet Union is passing through a different period. But is is advanc- ing. This is a fact admitted even by the imperialist pre Its ad- vances are reflected both in the signing of the recent non-aggression pacts with France and Poland, but still more in the ferocious attacks now being made on the Soviet power and its leadership in the imperialist press, the war situation in the Far East and the whole threatening war atmosphere in the world today. Trotsky, like the Socialist Daily Forward, acts on the theory that any difficulty in the Soviet Union is his opportunity. The main line of imperialist attack consists in the attempt to discredit revolution as a ‘weapon of the working class, as the way out of the miseries of capitalism; it consists in the attempt to convince the masses in ihe imperialist and colonial countries that no matter how bad their conditions are, things are still worse for the masses of the Soviet Union. This is Trotsky’s line. Not only has he stated time and time again that there is no proletarian democracy in the Soviet Union, but he now tries to picture the working class dictatorship reaching into Germany to d,ive “innocent people” to suicide, i. e. his daughter. For the thousands of German workers driven to death by starvation and disease by the capitalist dictatorship he is not concerned. Trotsky’s latest attack is vicious but mainly contemptible and cheap. IAYS the Jewish Daily Forward on Jan. 14; “The situation in Russia is Now a terrible one, und it becomes worse every day”. “The bun doubtful peasants are in many plac ighting with arms in hand again: the representatives of the powers that be. In South Caucasia a great many Communists went over to the side of the rebellious peasants.” It 1s evidently, in the opinion of the list Forward, a good time for the imperialists to attack. ‘Things a: bad in the Soviet Union that imperialist conquest would actually mean liberation for the masses; this, if words mean anything, is what Trotsky and papers like the For- ward are really saying. Edmund Wilson in the New Republic recently made his contribution by an alleged quotation from Lenin's widow, Krups- kaya, in which she was made to say that if Lenin had lived much longer, Stalin would have had him in jail. He produced a large amount of other gutter gossip retailed by Trotsky and his counter-revolutionists, * * * LL of thig.is part of the imperialist drive, against, the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, its leadership, the Communist International—and the proletarian revolution and the proletarian dic- tatorship as the way out of the capitalist crisis for the masses of workers, toiling farmers and colonia} peoples. As counter-revolution trying to get by as revolution this sort of cam- paign must be estimated, exposed and defeated. From whatever source it pretends to come this method of attack is instigated and inspired by the imperialist enemies of the country of socialism, enemies of the world's _ working class. ‘EveryFactory Our Fortress’ Establish Intimate, Per- manent Contacts With the Workers. The Twelfth Plenum Resolu- tions of the Communist Interna- tional emphasizes that the main link to win the American workers for decisive class battles, is the development of struggles around their elementary needs. The re- cent Shop Conference fa New York and Chicago should be utilized by every member of the Party and trade unions to im- prove the contents and methods of our work in the factores. We urge all comrades to send in articles on the basis of their own experiences, as well as questions on problems which confront them—which will be answered in this column. ORGANIZATION A MINE AM going to deal with the situa- tion in the mines of —. About a year ago I was sent in by the — district of this territory. When T got there, the conditions were pretty bad in our organization. We could not accomplish anything. I was on the section committee and we dis- cussed how we could get into the mine and organize mine groups and mine units. I proposal that one of gur leaders should get a job in the hitine and begin work from the in- side. The section committee decided that if anyone coul d get a job in the — mine we should go in there. I took the chance and I got a job there. We started with the work but could not make much progress. SERIES OF WAGE CUTS While I was working in the mine some wage cuts took place. Fir I the cutters received a slash of five cents. The next month they cut men, especially the shock A few weeks later they wage cut to the drivers. They split the wage cuts because if they would have given a general cut, the workers would have struck. I took this up with two Party members in the mine and I proposed that we should issue leaflets and expose how the bosses were putting ver the cut. When the leaflets were distributed inside the mine, the miners started talking. It reach- ed the bosses and they began to investigate who was responsible. At the same time they were going to cut the drivers 25 cents a day. I saw a couple of drivers and told them that they should get together and talk the matter over. If neces- sary, I told them, I would come to the stable. They said this would expose me and they could handle it alone. They called in all the driv- ers and refused to accept the wage cut. The result was that on the day they were to be cut they put up signs not to start work. We got notice in the mine that the drivers were staying out. I told the workers that if the drivers went out, we should go out with them. This went around like wildfire. We all got up and the assistant boss stood righ there. He called the superintend- ent and said that he would have to do something about it or the en- tire mine would walk out. The sup- rintendent came and told the driv- to go back to work—that their wages would not be cut. We popu- larized this and the result was that we got 16 union members and we increased the Party unit to 4, Seite BOUT a month later, they start- ed another wage cut on the ma- chine men. The big boss came around and told them that instead of 65 cents they would get 60 cents. The machine men would not take action on it. I tried to talk to a couple of them but they said we are only 12 and if we would go out we will not get the support of the other workers. But we could not convince them, and they accepted the cut. WAGE-CUT THROUGH SPEED-UP The bosses then went around to the others and told them if they want to work in the mine, they will have to load more clean coal. The big boss said when you load the car don’t lay them on the long side but on the wide side and this meant that they have to put an- other ton of coal on the car. ‘The workers could not see that this was a wage cul. We issued leaflets, but it had very little effect on the min- ers. They laid off 120 men from the mine. When they started to lay off the men we spread the news about a new wage cut. And the wage cut did come—another ten cents. When the machine men ac- cepted this cut, the day men re- ceived a cut of another 15 to 18 per cent. We got busy with leaf- lets. But it did not help. FEW days later we had a general cut. When this happened we issued leaflets and called a meeting last Sunday. When the company found out that the National Min- ers Union had a meeting they said the mine will not work until the New Year. We visited the workers and got them together on the basis of this, They all votzd to eome out on strike after the New Year when they returned to work, * « EDITORIAL NOTE:—Through nersistent work it was possible to develop definite actions right on the job in this mine. What is particularly significant is the util- ization of a struggle among one section of the worker to involve other workers, and to defeat the wage cut, But, at the same time, the failure to create an organ‘za- tion which could mobilize all the workers resulted in the workers accepting other cuts without re- sistance. The task is to use such partial struggles among one sec- tion of the workers to strengthen our organizational connections with the miners as a whole in the mine and prepare for organized action against any attacks of the bosses Filipino masses prepare to welcome “In dependence Bill” from U. s. Joint Manisesto to Workers, Peasants of the Philippines |From Communist Parties of China, Japan and the U.S.A.) The following is the Joint Mani- feste of the Communist Parties ef China, Japan and the United States addressed to the workers and toiling peasants of the Philip- pine Islands and their revolution- ary leader, the Communist Party of the Philippine Islands: O the workers and toiling peasants of the Philip- pines and to their revolu- tionary leader, the Commu- nist Party of the Philippine Islands, we, the Communist Parties of China, Japan and the United States send comradely greetings. Besides being an object of eco- nomic exploitation for American imperialism, which manages to cover with a veil of hypocritical “altruism” its imperialist. loot wrung by force from the enslaved | masses of Philippine workers and | peaserts, the Philippine Tslands constitute an invaluable military and naval outpost for American 1m- perialism in the Far Fast, NEED PHILIPPINES AS WAR BAS) American imperialists require more than sugar, hemp and copra. They require a military secure base for armed struggle against imper- jalist rivals for domination of the Far East, for the hog’s share | the dismemberment and rediv: ot China now being initiated b; | the imperialist powers. More pri sing still, America requires the Philippines as a base for attempts to crush the ever-growing power and expansion of the Chinese Sov- iets, the suppression of the Chinese agrarian and anti-imperialist revo- lution and for an advantageous position among the imperialist bandits for the planned war of in- tervention against the S. U., the land of triumphant socialist con~ struction. ion. all IHESE considetations outweight all the philistine arguments of certain sections of the American bourgeoisie, the “beet sugar liberd tionists”, the Dairy Products Tr and others responsible for the vari- ous proposals in the American, con- gress to “grant” freedom td the | Philippines. ‘These are the consid- | erations, which have caused both the | making and breaking of such pro- mises from the days of 1898 to the present day. With the election of Roosevelt and a Democratic Party majority in the American congress, a fresh illusion of independence to be “granted” will arise in the minds of sections of the Philippine mas- ses, But nothing can be more false | than such illusions. | If the Philippine masses accept | such an illusion, American rule | | will continue. Deception and force are both used and will be used. If | and when the Philippine people no Jonger can be deluded by vague promises, then the brutal heel of military subjection will be used openly, even as it was used thirty years ago. One of the means used by Yankee imperialism to maintain itself, is the frightening of the Philippine people with the possibility of the i seized by Japan—“i Japanese ism, that tionary power which aspires to be the gendarme and hangman of Asia, counters with a lying promise (as though its imperialist promises were not to be discounted even more than its silver Yen), that it “would respect” Philippine inde- pendence “if” America grants it. But meanwhile Japan prepares its fleet... It is clear that, to hold the Philippines, American imperialism is ready to make it another slaugh- ter-house of colonial slaves as Ni- caragua. It is also clear that Jap- anese imperialism is itching to make of the Philippines another Manchuria. The Communist Party of the U. 5S. and the Communist Party of Japan, in the name of the toiling | anasses of America and Japan, wish | to make clear to the Philippine people that they have no part in the plans of ‘their’ respective im- perialisms against the Philippine people. They emphatically repudi- ate every imperialist ambition and plan of Washington They are fighting and will continue ‘to fight to bring all such imperial- ist plans to naught. They empha- size their adherence to the prin- ciple that the Philippine people have a right to determine their own destiny, to decide their form of government on the basis of self- determination. necessi a fraud and nation’ ll be unobtainable yictouous armed independence without the revolutionary strugele of the masses of workers and peasants led by the C, P. P. f. Conversely, the same powers of the ed masses that is able to wrest independence from cne imperial~ ist oppressor, will be the guarantee eg si a new s m to eny and all other impe: . THE road to such a goal is neither smooth nor short, and it is our rties to lend you our st uggie. is our struggle also, as your s and ours are the Imperialism, through its agents in the labor movements of the im- perialist metropoli, iniuences masses to either an or fy s.ve support of imperialist colonial cy. We need only mention the despicable apologists for Japanese imperialism’s rape of Manchu who lead the “socialist” party end trade unions of Japan. The Amer- ican “socialist” party plays a sim- ilar role, and the chauyinist policy of the leaders of the American Fed- eration of Labor, who exclude all Asiatic immigrant workers from the A. admission to the country, is a stench in the nosirils of ali class conscious American workers. The C. P. P. I. faces great tasks and fornidabvie enemi First is the direct repressive violence of American imperialism, which is trying to decapitate the working ch movement by imprisonment and banishing all C. P. revolution- ary trade union and peasant lead- in open contradiction, it should be observed of all pretensions that American rule has brought “Amer- ican democratic rights.” We are confident that the Philip- pine proletariat and peasaniry will be able to defeat the purpose of American imperialism. But it is true that these persecutions receive the enthusiastic support of the Philippine bourgeoisie and landlords and this, indeed. measures the im- perialist corruption and servility of the entire bourgeois and landlord class. To re-ain a share with im- perialism in the capitalist loita~ tion and the feudal robbery Philippine workers and peasants, the bourgeoisie and landlords of the Philippines are ready -- even anxious—to strike an greement with “Yankee imperialism upon its own terms. This, in spite of the fact that national independence is the deepest desire of the wide mas- geois and landlord po- parties and leaders such as yon, Osmena, Roxas & Co., and that vile trastor and’ demagogue, Aguinaldo, are either openly or se~ eretly in conspiracy with the Amer- ican imperialist administration to defeat the demands of the Philip- pine people and to betray the Phjlippine nation. ANOTHER section of the Philip- pine bourgeoisie, to whom the economic crisis has prevented American imperialism from shar- ing with it the wealth wrung from -the toiling masses, has set up a rival clique to that favored by America, and has been conspiring with agents of Japanese imperial- ism. Just as American imperialism strikes at the movement for inde- pendence by persecution of Com- munists and revolutionary mass leaders, so also did these agents of imperialism, which is: well awate that the C. P. P, I. is the principal foe to all impertalist plots i and Tokyo. | same. | L. and oppose even their | | | | | | | and the sole leader of struggle for national independence and social liberation, seek to defeat the cause of Philippine independence by a policy of assassination of the leaders of the C. P. P. I. Thus, whether as lackeys of America or of Japan, the Philip- pine bourgeoisie betrays and op- poses Philippine independence. Fur- ther, it attracts to it and its policy of treachery, all the vile opportu- nist elements within and at the edge of the Filipino labor movement. Likewise, the methods of Ameri- can imperialism to tie the Philip- pine intellectuals in “silken fetters”, to create illusions of “democracy” and “opportunity” by an elected parliament which, however, is but @ puppet to the governor-general, and to “educate” the youth in all the catch-phrases and inanities of “American culture”, has had a certain success thus far. It is for this reason that we see the intel- lectuals in passive support of im- perialism, as for example their silence at the bloody suppression of the peasantry (the Tayug rising, the “colorums”, and tho constant mas- sacre of the Moros by Filipinos armed and led by imperialism), their failure to protest at the feu- dal ~extortions inflicted upon the peasants and the persecution of revolutionary worker: EFFECTS OF CRIS But the Philippine intellectuals are most markedly “heirs without a heritage”. They have no future but one of poverty and servility. The economic crisis, coming in the epoch of world capitalist decay, will aid the honest elements among them to throw off their illusions and to unite without reservations with the revolutionary proletariat. The crisis has also incredibly im- poverished the peasantry by in- creased rents, taxes and usury, to- gether with a terrific fall in pro- duce prices. The workers, likewise, starve with miserable wages almost equally with the penniless masses of unemployed. Thus, objective con- ditions point to a rapid revolution- ary advance, if prover work is done and advantage taken of the ex- ample of material mass betterment through revolution, shown by the Soviet Union and the Chinese Sov- jets. ‘The ousting of imperialism and its agents, the establishment of the 8-hour day and social insurance, the liberation of women toilers from double slavery, the abolition oi child labor, the confiscation of imperialist enterprises, the distrib- ution of land to the peasants and the conretlation of their burden of debts, all these have to still be won by the Philippines, but only by a revolutionary power of Soviets of workes and peasants. There is no. “short cut” to this, however. The masses can be won only by patient and painful atten- tion to the small, partial and daily complaints and demands, over @ period of years. Our experience teaches that the Communist who fails to understand the need for wide and thorough organization, education and experience of the masses in struggle, who seeks some “short. cut” to success, not only makes success impossible, but fur- nishes an excuse for “right” op- portunism to raise its head under the cover of “practical” policy’ that looks only to small reforms and shrinks from all, revolutionary policy and practice. oe oe ‘HE ©. P. P. I. is a young party, but one that is virile and truly proletarian. Young as it is, it has won the admiration of other older parties by its fearless actions. What ever, is within our power to do, we pledge in aid of your struggle. If the C. P. P. I. will learn from its errors, if it heeds the advice of the Cc. 1, if it boldly and patiently takes leadership in the class strug- gle and the struggle- for national independence no persecution, either in the present or the future, can prevent ultimate victory and the liberation of the Philippine nation under the red banner of a Work-* ers’ and Peasants’ Seyiet Republic. } TH BO ON Dramatic Incidents in the Siruggle E Against Russian Tsarism. ees BY T. TCOHERNOMORDIK EVIKS RIAL THE STORY SO FAR — In the previous installments the author described the methods used by the czar’s secret police (Okhrana) to trap Bolsheviks engaged in underground work. It related the methods of agents-provocateurs and the tactics of the revolutionists on trial. Yesterday’ to force arrested revolutios v FAMOUS SPEECHES The whole conduct of the Bol- shevik under arrest was dictated by the interests of the revolution, the interests of the working class and of its Party. During the exam- ination he refused to give evidence in the interest of the Pa: and at the trial used the prisoner's dock as the tribune from which to de- nounce his class enemies, and to proclaim to the broad masses the program and tactics of his Party. Although the cases of “political criminals” were heard behind closed doors, and the court consisted of Tsarist officials, representatives of the nobility and the bourgeoisie (the so-called “representatives of the estates”), and although these trials were not reported in the press, nevertheless, the speeches of the revolutionists were made pub- lic. They were reported in the il- Jegal press, and thus circulated amongst the broad masses, These speeches seryed as excellent agita- tion material, and for a whole gen- eration revolutionists were educa- ted by them, Both at the examination and at the trial, the Bolsheviks tqok into consideration the experiences of the preceding revolutionary organi- zations. In the 70's the Tsarist government had not yet adopted the simpler method of dealing with the revolutionists. Administrative exile (i.e. without trial) to places “not so distant” and “distant” (the formal wording of the order of exile) began to be applied later. At that time the Tsarist govern- ment gave the political prisoners the semblance of a trial, Their un- fortunate experience in giving Vera Zasulich, who attempted to assas- sinate General Trepoy, trial by jury is well known. Vera Zasulich was found not guilty, After this the Tsarist government gave up such “experiments.” “Political” cases be- gan to be transferred to military courts or to courts composed of the “representatives of the states,” i.e., the most bitter enemies of the working masses, IN order to show what a fund of experience the Bolsheviks ob- tained from the revolutionists of the '70’s regarding court tactics, we will quote excerpts from the bril- liant and biting speeches delivered by two revolutionists of that time: the plebian intellectual Ippolit Mishkin, and the weaver Peter Alexeyev. MISHKIN. Mishkin was one of the several hundred revolutionists arrested for propaganda work amtng the peas- ants, which was being carried on in the middle of the "70's in many Russian districts. In many parts of the country the Tsarist govern- installment described the means used by the Czarist police s to give evidence, Now read on: . * ment arrested hundreds of agita- tors and put them on trial in order to smash the revolutionary move- ment of that time. Altogether 193 evolutionists were brought to trial and it became known as the “Trial of the 193.” This was the first great political trial held in Russia. To many of the accused it was their revolutionary baptism, which help- ed them later on to play a great role in the revolutionary move- ment. However, the participants did not constitute a single organi- zation, directed by a single centre. Under the influence of the ideas of Bakunin, which prevailed at that time, the young intellectuals aban- doned their studies and their fam- ilies, gave up their previous ways of life, and “went to the people” in the villages’ and supported them- selves there by such work as they could find (as teachers, physicians, handicraftsmen and so on) so as to be nearer to the peasantry, and to rouse them to political con- sciousness. But this was not an organized movement in the sense that we understand it to-day. It was a movement united by the common ideas that swayed the’ re- volutionary intelligentsia at that time, For this reason, the trial of the 193, artificially instigated by the government, revealed not an organization, but the revolutionary ideas of that tme. At the trial, Mishkin appeared as the brilliant exponent of these ideas and of re- volutionary implacability towards the enemies of the people. Almost half-a-century has elapsed, since then,, and in spite of th¢ events of world-wide importance whieh have occured since, one can- not but feel enraptured by the:re- yolutionary heroism and passion displayed by Mishkin at the trial. He was not the “accused,” but a terrible judge, pouring forth his wrath on the “judges.” In spite of the continuous interruptions of the President of the Senate (the ease wes heard at a special session of the Senate), Mishkin succeeded in voicing his ideas. The President of the court want- ed to restrict Mishkin to the spe- cific charges on which he was be- ing tried, and not allow him to say anything that might condemn the Tsarist government, and that would reveal the condition of the country and the peasantry. Mishkin, how- ever, insisted on speaking to the country from the dock, to explain the ideas of the revolutionary moyement, to expose the policies of the autocratic government and to present a picture of the people's suffering. A bitter struggle ensued between the President and Mishkin. which only ended with the forcible removal of Mishkin from the court and the closing of the session by the perplexed Senator. (To Be Continued) The Story of An Old Railroad Worker in Wheeling, W. Va. By L. LEWIS [ARRY J. LEEDS is 64 years old. For over 25 years Leeds was working on the B. & O. Railroad. Lately he worked in the boiler shops, At present, at the age of 64, this old rebel is selling between 60 and 70 copies of the Daily Worker on the streets of Wheeling, W. Va., in the town where reigns the terror ot Carnegie Steel. I znet Leeds while on my visit to Wheeling in behalf of the Daily Worker. With a group of comrades I paid a special visit to this old militant, and Leeds was very happy over meeting us. His clean-cut, shaven face and bright eyes ex- pressed overwhelming enthusiasm as he chatted with us and related his experiences in selling the Daily Worker. OLD 8. P. MEMBER H. J. Leeds was an old member of the Socialist Party. But left the S.-P. after they betrayed the work- ing class during the war. He was the organizer of the Socialist local in Wheeling 20 years ago. Discour- aged and demoralized by the trea- chery of the S. P., he remained alone without being in contact with the revolutionary movement. In 1931 a comrade who toured for the Daily Worker approached Leeds and asked him to subscribe. After reading it for a few days, this old rebel became very enthusiastic. “I saw,” he told us, “that this is the real paper for the working class, so I thought, I shouldn’t be reading it myself, and ordered a bundle of 40 copies.” “NO you know when J started to sell the ‘Daily’? On Hoover Daye “What do you mean?” I asked. “Oh, that was the first day I was laid off,” he answered. “It was on December 1, 1931, That was dur- ing the first National Hunger March. On Dec. 2 the hunger marchers were on their way to Washington and were to pass our town. It was a great day for me. I wanted to meet the marchers. I took bundle of Daily Workers under my arm and went through the streets of Wheeling and yelled: ‘Read all about the Hunger March- ers! Organize to demand relief! Read all ‘about it in the. Daily Worker!’ * if “A motorcycle cop grabbed me and brought me to the station house. At the police siation I saw that the entire city police force, state troopers and all kinds of armed thugs were mobilized to meet, the marchers, “The police chief came in and looked at me in surprise, ‘Harry, Im yeally surprised at you for celle ing this paper, he said. ‘I don’t want to sell you this paper any more.’ “ ‘Well, I said, ‘why should you be surprised? Don’t you remem- ber when you were working un- der me in the boiler shop 20 years ago I was a radical? I thought then that you would remain loyal to our class, but you took a dif- ferent path. You are now on the side of our enemy and I remain Joyal to the working class. You can’t expect me to sell the papers right here, but as soon as you let me go, I intend to sell the Daily Worker again.” SOLD ALL THE PAPERS Leeds told this story with such revolutionary fervor that our group was infected with his spirit. “I was only sorry,” he said, “that I missed the hunger marchers* by the time I left the police station. But sure enough I sold all the pa- pers.” From that time on Leeds was re+ peatedly molested by the cops and’ detectives who are on the pay-roll of the Steel Trust. + In the old days Leeds used to spread various Socialist publica= tions. One of them was the “Ap- peal to Reason”. Asked what he thought the difference between the “Appeal to Reason” and the Daily Worker, he said, “Oh, the ‘Appeal’ was mush, and the New leader now is a poisonous snake.” When we parted, he shook hands very heartily and promised to in- tensify the work by drawing. in young workers to help spread the “Daily”, as well to help raise funds in the financial drive. 41 Sret The carrier ‘route of 35 steady veaders which ‘Leeds has estab- lished will serve as a base for the organization of a unit of the Come munist Party in Wheeling. Sad * * * oie Keep this old militant on the job in Wheeling by keeping the. Daily Worker alive. Collect. among your friends and shop- mates; rush funds to save the “Daily.”—Editor. Oi CORRECTION > A serious typographical error crept into the article “Students Join Revolutionary Struggle Against War,” by Gil Green, in "6 issue of the Daily Worker. The sentence: “The I'L. D. also w: all their college chapters meas supporting the Chicago congress because of the ‘Communist char- acter’ ” should have read the, “The | LL, Dy ete,” referring to the so- cialist League for Industrial Dem- ocracy. 2 of ‘) eet” } |